Optical networking device maker Oplink Communications Inc attracted well-timed bets in the options market days before the company said it was being acquired by a Koch Industries unit for $445 million in cash. Oplink's shares were up about 14 percent at $24.18 on Wednesday after it said that Koch Optics Inc would purchase it for $24.25 per share.The company's options were relatively busy on Wednesday with 875 contracts traded by 1:00 p.m. ET (1800 GMT). Compared with most companies, that may not be a lot, but Oplink usually sees activity of less than 30 contracts every day.Starting Oct. 31, however, there was a noticeable uptick in call activity with trading peaking on Nov. 13 and Nov. 17 when 2,123 and 1,520 calls traded, respectively, according to Trade Alert data.Most of the options activity on these two days were concentrated in calls - that convey the right to buy the stock in the future - at the $20 strike price and set to expire on Dec. 20 and Jan. 17.
Oplink Communications, Inc. designs, manufactures and sells optical networking components and subsystems. Shares of OPLK traded higher by 13.81% or $2.935/share to $24.18. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $13.91 and as high as $21.64. On average, 127369 shares of OPLK exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 5937309.
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